NTT DoCoMo

Here in the UK, where LTE services are still in their infancy, it feels premature to be looking forward to the fifth generation of mobile networks. However, in recent months there has been a significant increase in activity related to 5G. There has also been a flurry of misleading hype referring to LTE-Advanced (which strictly… Read more

NTT DoCoMo has announced that it will launch the world’s first combined HSDPA/LTE femtocells in December 2012, to enable improved indoor coverage for both 3G and 4G mobile handsets. Shops and offices will be able to offer high quality 3G and 4G coverage and users will be able to drop back to slower HSDPA services… Read more

There have been a number of interesting announcements in the last few weeks related to LTE. Firstly, NTT DoCoMo in Japan has announced that the number of subscribers to its LTE Xi service reached two million on 18 March 2012 – an increase of one million subscribers since 24 December 2011. This growth has been… Read more

If LTE is to be a widespread, commercial success, mobile network operators must ensure that they focus on providing superior coverage to 2G networks within a realistic timescale. They must not make the same mistakes of network underinvestment that many operators have made with their 3G networks, however unpalatable this is to their investors. In… Read more

Mark Heath looks forward to 2011 and the continued progress of LTE and femtocells. He comments on the launch of 4G services by NTT DoCoMo and AT&T, and discusses SK Telecom’s deployment of femtocells, specifically to solve congestion issues. As 2011 starts, I would like to wish all our readers a great New Year! This… Read more

Alastair Brydon discusses recent 4G network launches and the imminent 4G launch by Verizon Wireless in the USA. As we approach the end of 2010, the momentum of 4G network deployment is increasing rapidly, with the arrival of a number of major LTE networks. TeliaSonera led the way with LTE technology when it launched LTE… Read more

Not a week goes by that I don’t come across a raft of complaints in online forums about the quality of 3G mobile broadband services in the UK, with criticism levelled at all operators. Acision and YouGov have just published research of the experiences of mobile broadband users, and found 84% of the users surveyed… Read more

In his wireless blog, Alastair Brydon of Unwired Insight worries that mobile users will become increasingly dissatisfied with their mobile broadband services. The latest twist in the long-running saga of UK spectrum modernisation came this week, as the Competition Appeal Tribunal upheld a decision by Ofcom, that Telefónica O2 and Vodafone must wait to refarm… Read more

In most markets, the majority of mobile users are still supported by 2G (mainly GSM) networks, so 3G networks are only supporting a minority of cellular users. Within the next five years, the vast majority of 2G customers of incumbent 3G operators will migrate to 3G services. Furthermore, as these customers migrate to 3G services,… Read more